Executive Summary
In the recent years, a number of researches have been conducted to analyze publication productivity of criminal justice. Several scholars have created different perspectives about the issue, setting more space and reason for the continued research. Particularly, the current body of literature employs varied longitudinal and cross-sectional methodological approaches in demonstrating the publication productivity of scholars’ articles regarding criminal justice leadership. Furthermore, the studies often differ in the application and operationalization of their principal construct of interest. However, there is one relative consistency that is considered in the list of elite criminal justice and criminology journals. The study seeks to explore and understand the consistency in the publication of articles based on their shared ideas and research findings to derive a coherent conclusion of the common factor in criminal justice leadership. Comparisons will be drawn between articles with different points of view in an attempt to provide the common underlying conclusion. The results of the study show that delivery of justice in criminal law systems is significantly dependent on the quality and value of the decisions made by stakeholders. A fair and equitable justice delivery should be its central and principal goal. Criminal justice educators and overseers need to train their scholars to develop into persons with the capacity to make sound decisions. When the know-how and skills required to make the tough and sensitive choices are examined, they are applicable to being an effective leader and manager. Incorporating criminal justice leadership education and leadership skills a definite outcome in schools of justice curricula will prepare learners for the career. The course will assist them in becoming managers, and exercising and administrating justice for society.
Analysis Report in Criminal Justice Leadership
Introduction In the current society, justice leadership has increasing demand due to the erosion of social responsibility. The development of social responsibility is believed to be cultivated from family and extending to other disciplines with many external influences. The socialization elements include siblings, friends, peers, workplace colleagues, religious influences, and societal traditions and norms within the vicinity. The process of learning continues as people grow up; thus, the institutions of higher learning play a principal role in fostering citizenship, leadership skills, and social responsibility in their students. In the journey of achieving the goal, an active learning pedagogy ought to be adopted in the higher learning institutions, because the methods are effective in motivating the development of critical thinking and creativity in problem-solving. The term leadership has become the common vocabulary in business and justice. The philosophical analysis, reflection, knowledge, as well as education, take a central role in activities pertaining leadership and criminal justice decision-making (Wright, 1999). In addition, learning criminal justice develops strategic, tactical, planning, and conflict resolution skills. However, the most fundamental question that lies in the discussion is where the skills are meant to be applied and what situations demand the abilities in real life. In the life of a student, there are many things to learn that will never be applicable in solitary (Wright, 1999). Thus, learning criminal justice might never be used alone, but might have fundamental importance in different disciplines in life, when combined with and supported by others. Historically, liberal studies expanded an older version of education incorporating different aspects of criminal justice and societal laws. It primarily focused on very specific skills that were deemed necessary and required by people. The approach was taken within the domain of a comprehensive education, fostering idealism and societal mobility by belief, desire, and action. Kingshott, Mullendore, Hughes and Prinsloo. (2008) assert that the principle phenomenon of any particular organization is the ease of power mobilization directed towards achieving the goals. The value system in the process legitimizes the organization’s goal (Kingshott et al., 2008).
However, it is only by the power that the goal achievement can become effective. In any formal or informal organization, the individual and collective power of the stakeholders should never be underestimated. The employees are the greatest asset that any organization can hold at any given time. Power goes with skills and knowledge, and employees are the custodians of the processes. Leadership is a treasured commodity in all classes of organizations, both under public and private ownership. Security departments across the states have intensively sought and treasured effective leaders based on the outcome (Kingshott et al., 2008). For instance, police and other security forces leaders are expected to be reliable, competent and effective managers, who are in a position to inspire their followers and subjects to do their duties in the pursuit of institutional goals. Vito and Higgins (2010) note that organizational and societal leaders motivate their followers in transcending self-interest in the pursuit of institutional goals and values. Imposing rules and driving values in the society are the responsibilities of the leaders, where criminal justice leadership plays the fundamental role (Vito & Higgins, 2010). In criminal justice leadership, people are supposed to motivate followers to work within the confinements of the law so as to strengthen their commitment to the organization, achieve more than they deem possible, and induce feelings of honor, loyalty, trust, admiration, and mutual respect. The preservation of personal and collective freedoms is based on the fundamental responsibilities brought about by the criminal justice system (Vito & Higgins, 2010).
The fair and equitable exercise of criminal justice drives an integral part of a liberal education. The practice of criminal justice calls for fairness and equitable treatment for all people without discrimination based on any humanity element. The idea agrees with a significant paradigm shift, referred to by Wright (1999) as ‘old’ educational and literary values of memorization as well as the performance of scholarly notes that are merged into a modern pattern. Thus, possible ways of thinking and evaluating matters of crime, criminal justice, and offenders are inclusive of typical and rather ideological issues, treatment modalities, images of societies or worldviews, inherent as well as diverse research programs and scientific agenda. The practice of criminal justice leadership calls for using available platforms to address the issues facing people, whether the victims or the alleged offenders, so that fairness can be exercised. In addition to the typical course, other forms of justice that are relevant to most criminal cases must also be actively pursued, provided they deal with social justice (Wright, 1999). Thus, learning is not end but rather is a part of a facilitation and bridging processes through which social justice as the ultimate purpose of leadership education are obtained. The life and science philosophy demands the skills of systematic reasoning, analytical thinking, and an ability to address difficult and fundamental life questions.
Overall, it is the quest to acquire knowledge about ourselves or others and to reflect upon philosophical matters in the pursuit of social and criminal justice knowledge (Vito & Higgins, 2010). Justice experts argue that persons, who studied philosophical problems of perception rationality, knowledge, free will are well equipped to think and reason better about responsibility problems. They easier address issues of responsibility, decision making, evidence, and ethics. However, it is feared that the generalized questionability of the social justice functionality of actions of this nature might be misplaced. People may never obtain any conclusive answers, but in diverse ways, it is the pursuit and not the destination that is the fundamental goal. According to Germann (1977), about 10.1 million serious crimes were reported and documented in the year 1974 in the Uniform Crime Reports. However, the crime cases did not clear successfully, since only 21 percent of them were identified and charged (Germann, 1977). Thus, the field of criminal justice leadership has to be an allowed window for errors and inconsistency while investigations and the collection of evidence are conducted. A Census Bureau survey carried out on May 24, 1976, for the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA), revealed that there could have been 39.6 million serious crimes committed in the year 1974 (Germann, 1977).
Statistics shows that the crimes were more than 10.1 million as they were documented. The clearance rate for 1974 would accurately have been 5.2 percent and not 21 percent as it was published. For the 40 million serious crimes committed, only two million were successfully cleared, meaning that 38 million crimes were unaffected by the efforts of the criminal justice institutions (Germann, 1977). Germann (1977) argues that the two million identified and charged suspects must have been conscience-stricken, mentally retarded, inept, or just unlucky. To continue with the Cline’s metaphor, the journey towards achieving justice can only be accomplished if the required operational and service prerequisites, as well as the skills, are available. The abilities include, but are not limited to, persuasive, communication, and the problem-solving skills. They are fundamental because they are necessary for making the career journey possible. Inappropriate, unethical and illegal behavior may occur in all sorts of organizations. When it comes to matters of ethics and appropriate leadership, criminal justice agencies are no exception. They are run and managed by human beings, who are also involved in social vices through other bodies.
A few persons will succumb to corruption, commit acts of brutality, attempt to use excessive force, violate the due process protections and human rights provisions for individuals and groups, exploit or harass clients and workers, and engage in different other unethical practices. Part of the problem simply lies in the fallibility of human beings. The same forces that influence individuals elsewhere to steal, lie, and hurt; others similarly press upon criminal justice employees to act inappropriately. Moreover, the nature and foundation of criminal justice work may propel the forces to act inappropriately. Law enforcement officers view all people as good citizens, who abide by the law. On the other hand they are potential suspects of crimes that need to be observed carefully. In the field of criminal justice leadership, everybody should face similar consideration in matters of the law, due to the fact that all crimes lie with the people and are a potential risk to the same individuals (Jennings et al., 2008). As it has been covered previously, there has been a series of publications in the discipline of criminology as well as criminal justice. The studies have practically operationalized the publication productivity in several of ways, which have been a central subject to criticisms and limitations (Jennings et al., 2008). Publishing in the elite criminology and criminal justice journals is a very unusual activity due to the rate of journals submissions to Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS) and the American Society of Criminology (ASC) is rejected. It is believed that thousands can compose research information and make a journal, but the two associations do not just accept publications from any writer (Jennings et al., 2008).
| Board members | Association of Membership | Total elite seven recent publications (standardized) |
| Elizabeth Mustaine | SCJA | 0.07 |
| Charles Corley | MCJA | 0.09 |
| David Mueller | WPACJE | 0.14 |
| Michael Tonry | ASC | 0.16 |
| Wesley Johnson | ACJS | 0.25 |
| Ronald Burns | SWCJA | 0.27 |
| Jeffery Walker | ACJS | 0.44 |
| William Wells | MCJA | 0.44 |
| Gary LaFree | ASC | 0.45 |
| Justin Patchin | MCJA | 0.50 |
| J. Mitchell Miller | SCJA | 0.83 |
| Steven Messner | ASC | 1.23 |
| Brandon Applegate | SCJA | 1.36 |
Table 1. Ranking of ASC and ACJS and ACJS’s regional associations recent board members elite publication based on their productivity (Source: Jennings, W. G. et al. (2008)) The purpose of the current study in criminal justice leadership is to provide an examination and evaluation of the Leadership Challenge Inventory. The result of the venture is a model for comprehensive understanding and assessment of the leadership capabilities of individual police managers. Mediocre people in the society do not enjoy having talented individuals around them (Vito & Higgins, 2010). Pragmatic amateurs resent humane professionals, while the uneducated persons are uneasy around educated and intelligent people. Undisciplined pragmatists do not enjoy being surrounded by people who insist on critical analysis.
The examination is fundamental for several reasons. First, the outcomes of the study will provide information that offers support for effective and fair ranking of the leadership practices. It also assists in assessing the reliability of the leadership practices, as well as the validity of the Leadership Challenge Inventory (Vito & Higgins, 2010). Second, the platform is the first study to examine and critically analyze the Leadership Challenge Model with the use of law enforcement officers, and particularly the police sergeants and some middle-level managers as the sample. Third, the approach will help the individuals in the law enforcement in understanding their leadership practices (Vito & Higgins, 2010). The first conclusion from the rationale and evidence discussed in the paper, it can categorically be argued that the literature available confirms that leadership principles are an integral and fundamental part of liberal education. The second point is that the scholars and educators, who instruct in the various disciplines to empower the students, will eventually be absorbed and employed within the criminal justice systems. The people have an explicit and an implicit responsibility to engage their learners actively in an examination and acquisition of skills to be efficient leaders. Finally, criminal justice leadership programs have a duty to provide students with fundamental skills that include, but are not limited to systematic reasoning, analysis of thought and philosophical input, and logic that encourages personal reflection. The abilities can be used in solving complex issues of freedom and justice in the society, using the available platforms.
